So everything for this non-date is going well...until Darien makes the boldest statement of his life. Could his feelings towards Serena be changing?

"What time is it?" I wondered absently as I gently massaged my stiff neck. I'd been at the library so long studying that I had completely lost track of time. Turning my wrist over to check my watch, I let out a small cry of surprise.

11 o'clock at night. No wonder the librarian at the front desk kept giving me evil "go to hell" looks. Quickly I packed away my things and left.

The air around me was cool, but not unpleasantly so as I exited through the library's automatic doors. Lifting my head upward, I closed my eyes, taking in the cool night air. It would be a long walk home, and I wouldn't get to bed until late, but I didn't mind. At least it would be a pleasant walk.

With my hands in my pockets, I started my journey, allowing my thoughts to wander to the events that had transgressed over the course of the day. I still wasn't sure what Andrew meant about me liking Serena, but I had to admit one thing: The idea of spending Friday night with Serena wasn't entirely repulsive to me.

"...Just as a friend of course..." I reminded myself, "Nothing to get excited about. This is just a way to try and patch things up between us."

But as I told myself that, Andrew's stupid voice kept popping into my head.

"Admit it; you like Serena. Why else would you ask her out?"

It wasn't that I liked her or anything. I was just tired of the ridiculous bickering we did all the time. It got old after the one billionth time.

"Stupid Andrew," I spat.

But as a continued on my walk home, I suddenly realized that I hadn't been paying attention at all to where I was going. The streets were dark and unfamiliar to me.

Shit.

Mentally cursing myself, I looked around desperately for something familiar, something to point me in the right direction, but all I found was a sea of perfectly manicured lawns...great...a typical upscale neighborhood.

"Oh well, I guess I had better get this over with..." I said, mentally preparing myself to do what no man likes to do...ask for directions.

I resolved to knock on the first lit house I came to, but as I approached it something caught my eye. There, in the second floor window was...Serena! She sat by her window, obviously writing something down in a notebook, her silky, golden hair framing her pale face as she worked. Every now and then she'd look up, her eyes twinkling in the moonlight as she propped her chin on her hands. She looked so serene, so dreamlike that part of me wondered if my mind was deceiving me and it was an angel instead that I was seeing... but then again, there was no mistaking those meatballs; It was most definitely Serena. I wasn't sure how long I stared up at her...maybe it was only a few minutes, maybe it was longer. All I knew is in that very moment she absolutely captivated me...

My idea to knock on the Tsukino's door completely forgotten, I watched Serena from the street until finally she left her window, turned off her light, and went to bed. Suddenly the thought occurred to me of how much I must have appeared to be some sort of stalker or something. I took a quick look around and, satisfied that no one was watching me, I left.

I wasn't quite sure how I found my way home that night, but eventually I did manage to find the way back to my apartment...Needless to say, I had my mind on other things...

Like how beautiful Serena looked in the moonlight.

"But wait a minute," I thought to myself, "maybe it really wasn't Serena...Maybe it was just all this stupid double date crap that made me think it was her, or maybe it was just a trick of the moonlight or something"

Yeah, that was it. That must've been it. After all, I'd never seen where she lived; I wasn't even sure that it was in this neighborhood. Besides, this was Serena I was talking about. Ditzy, whiny, crybaby Serena. There was no way it could have been her.

I went to bed that night, wholeheartedly convinced that what I saw was a figment of my imagination, nothing more.

And when I awoke in the morning, it seemed like those thoughts were confirmed. On the way to class, I spotted Serena herself sprinting across the nearby park, late for class as usual. I opened my mouth to ask her if she was ever on time to anything, but I quickly stopped myself. After all, I told Serena that this whole double date thing was going to mean a truce between us, and I pride myself on being a man of my word...Although you have no idea how hard it was to resist the temptation.

"Oh, hey Darien!"

At the sound of my name, I turned to see Serena running up to me, her eyes bright and her cheeks red from her morning run.

"W...Would you...be able to..." she huffed, "pick me up from my house at 5 o'clock?"

Oh crap. That was tonight. I hadn't even thought about it, my mind was so cluttered.

"Uh, yeah. Sure..." I replied.

"Oh, thank you so much...And don't worry, there's no pressure on you to act like a boyfriend or anything," Serena said, waving her hand in dismissal. "Raye already knows about the whole thing, and she's promised to keep her mouth shut...Let's just hope she's not pulling a fast one on me though." Serena looked up at me, giving me a wide smile so typical of her. How ironic that I would be the one making her smile I thought.

"Oh, no! Is that really the time?" Serena asked frantically. "I gotta go. I'll see you tonight!" Quickly she shoved a piece of pink stationary into my hand on which was scrawled in big letters what must have been her address. Hmph. Now that was typical. Drawn in the right-hand corner of the paper was a kawaii-style bunny face. Give me a break, how girly can a girl get?

"Thanks, meat--"

But she was already gone, which was probably for the better. What can I say? Old habits die hard.

It was mocking me. It was mocking me, I tell you. That damned bunny stared up at me from that pink, sickeningly feminine paper with its ridiculously wide smile in absolute mockery of me. It was 4:00 in the afternoon, only an hour before I had to pick Serena up from her house, and I'd gotten my first jolt of pre-date nerves.

Except I never get pre-date nerves. I'd gone out on plenty of dates before, and never in my entire dating career had I ever gotten the jitters beforehand. Women have just never been a problem for me.

"Wait…wait. Pre-date nerves? This isn't a date, Chiba," I mentally scolded myself. I'm just helping Serena out. That's all.

"Okay. What to wear? What to wear?" I asked myself as I opened my closet door and started rummaging around. Just then the thought struck me that I had no clue where we were going. Serena could have been taking me to Alaska for all I knew. So should I go casual or formal? I cringed, suddenly envisioning myself dressed in a tux at a bowling alley. Yeesh!

Opting for something in the middle, I picked out a clean pair of khaki pants and a blue button up shirt. I checked my watch.

4:30.

Taking one last look in the mirror I departed for Serena's house, curious as to how her father was going to receive me.

Unfortunately for me, I had grossly underestimated the time it was going to take to get to her house. In only five minutes flat my mustang's engine sat idling in the Tsukino resident's driveway. Great. It's not like I could just sit there for the next 35 minutes and wait for her to come out. I was going to have to ring the doorbell.

Now, there's something you must understand. Serena's father was a legend in Tokyo for being the ultimate overprotective father. He would stop at absolutely nothing to make sure no male ever even came close to touching his beloved princess. No wonder the girl had never had a boyfriend before. You see my dilemma now.

Either way though, I was going to have to suck it up and ring the doorbell. Taking a deep breath, I climbed out of my car and trudged my way up the steps to the front door, but I didn't even make it the door, when it suddenly opened. There stood Serena's mother in a blue dress and apron, her face positively beaming up at me.

"Why hello, you must be Darien," she kindly said to me, leading me through the door.

The house itself was quaint and homely. Small knickknacks covered every table, and no sofa was without a blanket on its back. Family pictures decorated any and all the walls. To some it might have seemed cluttered, but there was a warmth about it that permeated every corner. It was obvious to any who entered that this was a loving family. Just the kind of family I'd expect Serena to be a part of.

"Serena's still getting ready, so if you don't mind sitting at the table for awhile..." Serena's mother began.

"Sure," I said, helping myself to a seat at the dinner table. Mrs. Tsukino took a seat opposite of me, both of us obviously unsure of what to say.

"So, are you one of Serena's classmates?" she asked, the skepticism behind the statement poorly hidden.

"No actually, I'm a college student here at Tokyo University," I replied.

"Oh...What's your major?" She asked, concern for her fourteen-year-old daughter written on her face.

"Pre-med."

"Oh! How wonderful!" Her eyes lit up, the concern immediately wiped away. I could see the fantasies forming in her mind of her daughter in a beautiful white dress, preparing to marry the man of her mother's dreams--the wealthy doctor. Great. Just what I needed, a hopeful mother.

"D-Darien…You're here early."

Serena stood at the bottom of the stairs, dressed in a simple, yet effective, white sundress. The waist was cut high, with delicate lace falling gracefully around her shoulders and low neckline. She was…stunning to say the least.

"Well, you two had better head off if you want to be there on time," Mrs. Tsukino said with a bright smile, quickly leading us towards the door. She was liking my pre-med status a little too much for my taste.

I looked down at my watch. It was only 4:45.

"What's the big rush," I asked Serena once we were out of earshot of her mother.

"Dad…He doesn't know that I'm going out on a da-…an outing tonight. Mother thought it was best if he didn't know," she explained.

"Oh," I said, giving a slight chuckle. "That was probably for the best I guess. I'd be pretty hard to explain to your dad."

"Tell me about it!"

"So where are we going anyway?" I asked as we got in the car and started the car.

"Oh yeah, I totally forgot to tell you. We're supposed to be meeting them at The Rose Café. It's just a few blocks from the arcade," she responded.

"Yeah, I know the place," I replied. I'd heard about it from Andrew a couple times. Apparently he and Rita had been there several times and loved the food there. Well, at least I knew I was dressed appropriately.

We fell silent after that, neither really knowing what to talk about. She sat in the passenger's seat, quietly chewing on her lower lip. Every now and then she'd look up at me as if she wanted to say something.

"Darien…"

"Yeah, what is it?"

"Thank you."

She said the words so quietly that I almost didn't hear her. But when I looked over into her azure blue eyes, I saw such sincerity etched in them that it took me off guard. To tell the truth a few days ago, I would never have believed that she was capable of saying anything other than an insult to me…But then again I guess the same could have been said of me as well. But here we were, being completely civil…no, better than just civil. We were being…nice to each other. It was mindboggling.

"You'll want to turn here if you want parking," Serena remarked.

"Oh, thanks," I said, coming out of my reverie. I pulled into the little parking lot, quarters in hand for the parking meter. Unfortunately, this place was in the heart of downtown, and parking was hard to come by. I had no choice but to park in a metered lot. I pulled out my special stash of quarters and proceeded to load the meter…or so I thought. I probably wasted three dollars in coins before I realized that the meter wasn't registering them. Brilliant. I was half tempted to kick the damn thing, but thought better of it. The last thing I needed was a broken foot.

"Hey Serena, do they usually write parking tickets at this time of day?" I asked.

"Um, I've never seen them, but…"

"Good, then I'll just take my chances," I resolved. After all, it's not like I didn't try to pay the meter.

"Hey Serena!"

I looked up just in time to see Raye and Chad pull up, both of them smiling and waving as they got out. But as I locked eyes with Chad, I instantly knew something was wrong. Surprise was written all over his face.

"Well, well, well Serena. You finally found yourself a boyfriend. It's about time. I was starting to think you'd never get one," Chad declared. How typical. Chad it seemed was one of those tactless guys that gives the rest of us a bad name.

Serena began chewing her lower lip again, sharing furtive looks with her best friend. Raye obviously had not informed Chad about my not being Serena's boyfriend.

"Chad, Darien's not—" Raye began, but I cut her off.

"Her boyfriend anymore, so you don't have to worry about there being anything between us…I'm Serena's boyfriend now."